West Coast healthtech company brings popular conference and pitch competition to DC

A healthtech company is flipping coasts, and has chosen DC as the location for its annual conference. The event kicks off this Friday. 

Hundreds of innovators, entrepreneurs and healthcare professionals are expected to attend Charmalot, held Aug. 23-25 at the Grand Hyatt in downtown DC. Hosted by CharmHealth, the Pleasanton, California-headquartered healthcare IT firm, it includes an innovation challenge and pitch event for founders to present their ideas on Saturday. 

The gathering has been held on the West Coast since its start in 2015. But CharmHealth CEO and Founder Pramila Srinivasan wanted to encourage attendance for East Coast clients.

That change seems to be working, she said, noting several new people are attending this year.

“The company’s motto is to bring innovation to the point of care,” Srinivasan told Technical.ly. “Our goals are to connect a system … of providers, patients and innovators, and also to be the innovation hub of health IT and focusing on best health outcomes.”

When Srinivasan started CharmHealth back in 2007, it originally manifested as an online forum for people to discuss treatments of loved ones with chronic conditions. One of her family members was dealing with that at the time, she said. 

Then doctors started using the platform and suggested it could be adapted to be more comprehensive. Now it’s a cloud-based platform used to track health records, facilitate patient communication and manage billing.  

Expect informative talks and founders’ pitches

CharmHealth is also focused on connecting providers with innovative startups, Srinivasan said. That’s where the fourth-annual innovation challenge comes in. 

Fifteen people will showcase their innovations on posters at the conference this year, and four people will be selected via attendee voting to present in a pitch competition, Srinivasan said. 

There will be cash prizes: $10,000 for first place, $5,000 for second place and $2,500 for third place. Other than the funds, founders will get visibility and a possible integration onto the CharmHealth platform, she said. 

Topics to be covered at the conference at keynotes and training include incorporating AI into healthcare and how to navigate scaling healthtech startups. There will also be plenty of networking opportunities, per Srinivasan.

This year, Srinivasan noticed a jump in submissions for the challenge, and there was a greater diversity in the types of technology including those related to cardiology and seizure management.  

What she’s most excited about is the number of submissions related to women’s healthcare, she said, including innovations related to in-vitro fertilization, perimenopause and hormone testing.

Next year, she’s planning to allocate one award specifically for women’s health solutions to boost submissions even more. 

“I consider myself the luckiest person on the planet that we are able to use our platform to help women’s health,” Srinivasan said, “which has been on the back burner too long, and it’s high time that this comes to the forefront.”